U.S. patent number 5,322,290 [Application Number 07/813,395] was granted by the patent office on 1994-06-21 for golf club grip.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Maruman Golf Kabushiki Kaisha. Invention is credited to Masanobu Minami.
United States Patent |
5,322,290 |
Minami |
June 21, 1994 |
Golf club grip
Abstract
A golf club grip has a double-layer structure comprising an
inner layer and an outer layer aminated on the outer surface of the
inner layer. One of the inner and outer layers is made of a first
material, while the other layer is made of a second material. The
first material has an elasticity which is higher than that of the
second material so that the first material is more readily
elastically deformable than the second material, while the second
material has a viscoelasticity which is higher than that of the
first material.
Inventors: |
Minami; Masanobu (Chiba,
JP) |
Assignee: |
Maruman Golf Kabushiki Kaisha
(Tokyo, JP)
|
Family
ID: |
18515475 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/813,395 |
Filed: |
December 27, 1991 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 30, 1990 [JP] |
|
|
2-405869[U] |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/201;
473/300 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B
53/14 (20130101); A63B 60/08 (20151001); A63B
60/10 (20151001); A63B 60/54 (20151001) |
Current International
Class: |
A63B
53/14 (20060101); A63B 59/00 (20060101); A63B
069/36 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/81B,183D,183R,81.4,81R,187.5,187.4,187.2,186.2 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
363003 |
|
Dec 1931 |
|
GB |
|
2182252 |
|
May 1987 |
|
GB |
|
2192550 |
|
Jan 1988 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: Marlo; George J.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Armstrong, Westerman Hattori,
McLeland & Naughton
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A golf club grip for use on a golf club comprising an inner
layer for securing said grip to a stem portion of a golf club shaft
and an outer layer laminated to an outer surface of said inner
layer, said inner layer being made of a first elastic material,
while said outer layer is made of a second elastic material,
wherein said first elastic material is more readily elastically
deformable than said elastic second material in order to enhance,
for the golfer using a golf club with said grip thereon, a sense of
fitness, while said second material has a viscoelasticity which is
higher than that of said first elastic material so that said second
elastic material can enhance, for the golfer using a golf club with
said grip thereon, a sense of firmness.
2. The golf club grip according to claim 1, wherein said inner
layer has an exposed portion which is exposed at the surface of
said outer layer.
3. The golf club grip according to claim 2, wherein the surface of
said outer layer and the surface of said exposed portion of said
inner layer have different colors.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to improvements in the golf
club grip.
2. Description of Related Art
In playing golf, if the golf club grip is gripped with an excessive
force, the ball can not fly over a large distance, and also it is
difficult to accurately control the flying direction of the ball.
In order to prevent the grip from being gripped with an excessive
force, it is important to enhance the sense felt from the grip by
the player, particularly the sense of fitness and sense of firmness
when the grip is gripped. The term "sense of fitness" means a sense
of touching the grip with the player's hands fitted therewith, and
the term "sense of firmness" means a sense that the grip is gripped
stably and reliably particularly when swinging the club. If either
of these senses are lacking, the player is liable to grip the grip
with an excessive gripping force due to a sense of instability.
It is thus desirable to construct the golf club grip so as to
obtain both the sense of fitness and sense of firmness. With the
prior art grip, however, it has been difficult to meet these
demands at the same time.
For example, in a rubber grip the sense of fitness may be enhanced
by using a rubber material having a low rubber hardness. To
decrease the rubber hardness of the grip, however, causes the sense
of firmness to be deteriorated. Contrarily, to increase the rubber
hardness of the grip causes the sense of firmness to be increased.
In this case, however, the sense of fitness will be deteriorated.
Accordingly, in the prior art grip both the sense of fitness and
sense of firmness can not be enhanced at the same time, that is, if
it is intended to enhance either sense, the other sense is
deteriorated.
Further, when swinging a golf club, the grip experiences a force
tending to bring about its bending deformation, a force tending to
bring about its torsional deformation with respect to its
longitudinal axis and a tensile force tending to elongate it by
pulling it in the direction of centrifugal force of the club.
However, if the grip is actually greatly deformed by these forces,
the player will tend to grip the grip with an excessive force due
to the sense of instability. Therefore, the material of the grip
should be selected to suppress the deformation of the grip as noted
above as much as possible. With the prior art grip, however, it has
been difficult to suppress the bending deformation, torsional
deformation and elongative deformation at the same time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a golf club
grip, which makes it possible to enhance both the sense of fitness
and sense of firmness at the same time.
A second object of the invention is to provide a golf club grip,
which can suppress at the same time the bending deformation,
torsional deformation and elongative deformation when swinging the
club and thus enhance the sense of fitness felt by the player.
In order to achieve the first object of the invention, there is
provided a golf club grip comprising an inner layer secured to a
stem portion of a golf club shaft and an outer layer laminated on
the outer surface of said inner layer, one of said inner and outer
layers being made of a first material, while the other layer being
made of a second material, wherein said first material has an
elasticity which is higher than that of said second material so
that said first material is more readily elastically deformable
than said second material, while said second material has a
viscoelasticity which is higher than that of said first
material.
In order to achieve the same object, there is also provided a golf
club grip comprising an inner layer secured to a stem portion of a
golf club shaft and an outer layer laminated on the outer surface
of said inner layer, one of said inner and outer layers having a
rubber hardness which is higher than that of the other layer.
According to the above-mentioned constructions of the grip, both
the senses of fitness and firmness when the grip is gripped can be
enhanced at the same time.
In order to achieve the second object of the invention, there is
provided a golf club grip comprising an inner layer secured to a
stem portion of a golf club shaft and an outer layer laminated on
the outer surface of said inner layer, wherein one of said inner
and outer layers has a modulus of transversal elasticity which is
higher than that of the other layer and a modulus of longitudinal
elasticity which is lower than that of the other layer.
According to the above-mentioned construction, it is possible to
suppress bending, torsional and tensile deformations of the grip
when swinging the golf club and enhance the sense of firmness.
In the above-described structures, a portion of the inner layer of
the grip may be exposed at the surface of the outer layer. With
this construction, it is possible to determine the grip
characteristic distribution along the grip in accordance with a
pressure distribution provided by the player's hands or fingers and
permit further enhancement of the senses of fitness and
firmness.
In this case, the surface of the outer layer and the surface of the
exposed portion of the inner layer may advantageously have
different colors. In this construction, the exposed portion serves
as a mark for positioning the player's hands or fingers on the
grip, and thus it is possible to give the player a sense of
easiness.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent from the following description of the
preferred embodiments of the present invention as illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a front view of a golf club with a grip embodying the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view in a grip section of the golf
club;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the grip taken along the line
III--III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a front view showing a different embodiment of the grip;
and
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the grip taken along the line V--V in
FIG. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. 1 to 3 are views for explaining a first to third embodiments
of the present invention. Referring first to FIG. 1, a golf club 1
comprises a club shaft 2, a head 3 secured to the fore end of the
shaft and a tubular grip 4 secured to the stem of the shaft. As
shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the grip 4 according to the invention has a
double-layered structure having an inner layer 5 secured to the
stem of the club shaft 2 and an outer layer 6 laminated on the
outer surface of the inner layer 5. The inner and outer layers 5
and 6 are made of elastic materials such as natural rubber,
synthetic rubber or the like.
In the first embodiment of the invention, the inner layer 5 of the
grip 4 is made of a first elastic material, while the outer layer 6
is made of a second elastic material which is different from the
first elastic material. More particularly, the first elastic
material has an elasticity which is higher than that of the second
elastic material so that the first elastic material is more readily
elastically deformable than the second elastic material, while the
second elastic material has a viscoelasticity which is higher than
that of the first material. In other words, the inner layer 5 has a
superior elasticity, while the outer layer 6 has a superior
viscosity.
Usually, a golf club grip having a superior elasticity provides and
enhanced sense of fitness when it is gripped. On the other hand, a
grip having a high viscoelasticity provides a sense of firmness
when it is gripped. With the grip 4 in the first embodiment, when
the grip 4 is gripped, the sense of fitness and sense of firmness
can be enhanced at the same time, because the inner layer 5 has a
superior elasticity while the outer layer 6 has a high
viscoelasticity.
The prior art grip comprises a single layer or has a double-layered
structure with the materials of the individual layers selected for
the sole purpose of weight reduction. Thus, the prior art grip can
not provide enhanced senses of fitness and firmness at the same
time when the grip is gripped. In comparison to this, the grip 4
according to the the first embodiment of the invention, the
individual layers 5 and 6 can provide respective functions of
enhancing the sense of fitness and sense of firmness, thus meeting
both the requirements at the same time.
Although in the first embodiment, the inner layer 5 is made readily
elastically deformable while the outer layer 6 is provided with
enhanced viscoelasticity, the same effects may be obtained by
forming the outer layer 6 with a material capable of ready elastic
deformation and forming the inner layer 5 with a material having a
greater viscoelasticity than the outer layer 6.
In the second embodiment of the invention, the inner layer 5 of the
grip 4 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is made of a first elastic material,
while the outer layer 6 of the grip 4 is made of a second elastic
material which is different in rubber hardness from the first
elastic material. More particularly, the first elastic material has
a rubber hardness which is higher than that of the second elastic
material. Alternatively, the outer layer 6 may be made of a
material having a rubber hardness which is higher than that of the
inner layer 5.
Usually, when a grip having an increased rubber hardness is gripped
with the player's hands or fingers, an enhanced sense of firmness
can be obtained, and conversely with a reduced rubber hardness an
enhanced sense of fitness can be obtained. With the construction of
the second embodiment, an enhanced sense of firmness can be
provided with one of the inner and outer layers 5 and 6 having a
higher rubber hardness when the grip 4 is gripped, while an
enhanced sense of fitness can be provided with the other layer
having a lower rubber hardness. Thus, as similar to the
aforementioned first embodiment, both the sense of fitness and
sense of firmness can be enhanced at the same time.
In the third embodiment of the invention, the modulus of
transversal elasticity of the inner layer 5 of the grip 4 shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3 is set to be higher than that of the outer layer 6,
while the modulus of longitudinal elasticity of the latter is set
to be higher than that of the former. Alternatively, the modulus of
transversal elasticity of the outer layer 6 may be set to be higher
than that of the inner layer 5, while the modulus of longitudinal
elasticity of the latter is set to be higher than that of the
former. That is, one of the inner and outer layers 5 and 6 of the
grip 4 according to the third embodiment is made of a first
material having a higher modulus of transversal elasticity while
the other layer is made of a second material having a higher
modulus of longitudinal elasticity.
Usually, with increased modulus of longitudinal elasticity of the
grip, the elongative deformation of the grip caused by the tensile
force exerted thereto can be suppressed, and the bending hardness
of the grip is increased. Accordingly, the bending deformation
caused by a bending force can be suppressed. Further, with
increased modulus of transversal elasticity of the grip, torsional
deformation of the grip caused by a torsional force exerted thereto
can be suppressed.
As aforementioned, when swinging a golf club, the grip experiences
a force tending to bring about its bending deformation, a force
tending to bring about its torsional deformation with respect to
its axis and a tensile force tending to elongate it in the
direction of centrifugal force of the club. However, since one of
the inner and outer layers 5 and 6 of the grip 4 according to the
third embodiment is made of a first material having a higher
modulus of transversal elasticity while the other layer is made of
a second material having a higher modulus of longitudinal
elasticity, it is possible to suppress bending, torsional and
elongative deformations of the grip when swinging the golf club 1
and, thus, enhance the sense of firmness.
When the grip 4 of the golf club 1 is gripped with the player's
hands or fingers, the distribution of pressure provided thereon is
uneven. Therefore, it is advantageous to distribute suitably the
characteristics of grip 1 such as modulus of elasticity,
viscoelasticity and rubber hardness in accordance with the
distribution of pressure applied to the grip 1 from the player's
hands or fingers.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are views for explaining fourth and fifth embodiments
of the invention. In these Figures, the same or similar constituent
elements as those in the first to third embodiments are denoted by
the same reference numerals.
In the fourth embodiment, the inner layer 5 has an exposed portion
A which is exposed at the surface of the outer layer 6 of the grip
4, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. With this construction, it is
possible to adjust the characteristics of the surface of the grip 4
to a most suitable state in accordance with the pressure
distribution provided applied thereon from the player's hands when
gripping the grip 4. The location and size of the exposed portion A
of the inner layer 5 can be determined experimentally by taking the
actual pressure distribution applied thereon from the player's
hands when gripping the grip 4, as well as differences among
individuals, into considerations to obtain the most superior sense
of fitness and sense of firmness.
Where the inner layer 5 is partly exposed at the surface of the
grip 4 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the surface of the outer layer 6
and the surface of the exposed portion A of the inner layer 5 may
be provided with different colors. This arrangement permits the
player to determine instantly the positions of the hands or fingers
to be located on the grip 4 so as to obtain the most superior sense
of fitness and firmness. That is, a mark can be made by providing
different colors on the surface of the outer layer 6 and the
surface of the exposed portion A of the grip 4, respectively. Such
mark serves to locate suitably the player's hands or fingers on the
grip 4 of the club 1 and, thus, gives the player a sense of
easiness. With such easiness sense, the player can exhibit the
utmost ability. That is, the player can exhibit the ability owing
to a sort of hint provided by the mark.
While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific
embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives and
modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light
of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to
include all such alternatives and modifications as fall within the
spirit and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *